Five fire districts in rural Douglas County received $100,000 in federal funds to assist with combating wildfires, structure fires and responding to medical emergencies.

“Our investment in and partnership with our rural fire districts, who are often the first responders on an incident in the Pike National Forest, are vital components of our hard, heavy, fast approach to wildfire response,” said Douglas County board Chair Roger Partridge.

The fire districts will use the money to purchase new equipment, provide training and upgrade communications. Commissioners made the awards at the Feb. 11 meeting. With an average cost of $763 per response call, the Mountain Communities Volunteer Fire Protection District received $29,000 based on its 38 calls last year. Larkspur Fire Protection District, with only nine calls, received $6,876.

The payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT, money goes to localities to offset the loss of revenue from nontaxable public lands in their jurisdictions. The money comes through a formula that factors in population and amount of acreage. Douglas County, with 144,612 acres of federal land, received $324,000 in fiscal year 2019.

In total, Colorado localities received $40.9 million last year, with Mesa County, at nearly 1.6 million acres of public land, getting the largest single payment of $3.6 million.